As science began to show its power to describe reality in increasingly finer resolutions,
the 7 arts become redundant as a core curriculum for specializing scientists. Their increasing focus on learning the language of mathematics and keeping abreast of the ever expanding basis of physical knowledge, were enough, make the 7 arts redundant. Specialization became a necessity.
But what of the humanities?
The humanities also went the specialization-way, and there were many bonuses involved:
Bonus 1: Reductionism, a core feature of the physical sciences, could be assumed as a mantle of objectivity over the humanities.
Bonus 2: It became possible to have the cake and eat it: specialize like the sciences, but use logical fallacies and rhetorical bravado without check
Bonus 3: The university can become a particuversity – focus on the particular rather than the universal, but still put up a universal front.